Last nite's gig: the good, the bad & the ugly...

so we played at downtime in nyc last nite. with the exception of my one major botchup [completely lost my place in one song... but we recovered], we had a real strong set. i was very nervous about messing up 2 songs, coz they're newer, but i nailed 'em.

so that was the good.

the bad was that no one showed. it is such a sad situation, this here music scene of late. i used to hang at downtime quite frequently, as i worked close by. the place was consistently packed from happy hour to 2 a.m. now the only audience was the bartender, the soundman, and some very enthusiastic U.N. Council member from Switzerland who absolutely loved us. he bought a smogg shirt [for his young son], our cd, rounds of drinks for the whole band, and even gave us $20 "because you guys are great and need support." go figure! i guess that part was actually "the good" also.

the ugly was this phenomenally bizarre gtr/vocal keyboard guy&girl act that had us wondering a) what downtime was thinking when they booked them and b)why aren't they on saturday nite live?

what're the characters that will farrell & what's her name play on SNL -- the school teacher and principal who play the keys and sing at the school assemblies/dances? that's what this duet was like. i'm talking sooooo bizarre! the woman was actually quite a great singer, but she insisted on playing guitar badly, just to keep up with the sheryl crow wannabe set. the guy -- oh my heavens, was he a trip -- handled the keys, and "backing" vocals. backing vocals meant him doing these cheese-o running bass lines and assorted other vocal inflections, so as to "accompany" her. truly bad! i am ordinarily the pinnacle of respect for fellow players, but these guys were so queer, i actually had to run to the bathroom. i simply could not stop laughing. cruel, i know, but at least i didn't bust up under their noses. and i DID tell the woman she had a lovely voice, which she did.

why they would book this act amidst a succession of hard rock bands is beyond me.

oh, on another up note -- the last band that played was this fairly young band out of binghamton, new york, called revel. this is a terrific new band, and we are totally supporting them, and possibly doubling up for gigs. i generally dislike a lot of new young bands, because they are very formulaic and fall into bad copies of the "new hardcore" sound. very unoriginal. these guys were just the opposite. they were good players with a wellspring of influences, and a lot of creativity for their age. you could hear the modern rock sensibility [nirvana, audioslave, maybe even a little rage], but there were also beatles and hendrix influences. they did a lot of cool musical breaks and extended jam sections [sometimes that led nowhere], but with their innate musical sensitivity, and a wee bit more thought and polish, i really think these guys can go somewhere. i hope so. they work hard, play well and look good. don't know if their new material is up, but if you get a chance, check out www.reveltheband.com they've got a different drummer now, and i think the keyboard player is gone, so the pics may not be entirely accurate.

wow, i'm babbling like a brook. sorry for the long post! but just wanted to tell of my evening adventure.